Crossroads hits Hillary Clinton on Benghazi

Karl Rove’s American Crossroads released a video on Friday attacking former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for her handling of the Sept. 11, 2012, attack at the U.S. post in Benghazi, Libya.

First reported in POLITICO’s Playbook, the 1:31-minute clip features testimony from this week’s House Oversight Committee hearing. Gregory Hicks — a Foreign Service officer and ex-deputy chief in Libya — is shown at the hearing recounting a 2 a.m. phone call in which he briefed Clinton the night of the incident.

“[Hicks,] a 22-year diplomatic veteran intimidated for daring to blow the whistle — all under Hillary Clinton’s watch. How could this happen? Why did she blame the video? And was she part of a coverup?” a man says in the clip.

The video then cuts to Clinton’s testimony earlier this year on the Hill, in which she asked, “What difference does it make?” regarding the cause of the incident.

“The difference is a coverup of four American lives that deserve the truth,” the man says.

The video reflects the widespread criticism conservatives have lodged at the Obama administration for its handling of the incident, in which Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others were killed and illustrates how partisan the Benghazi issue has become.